A mandala is a repetitive flowing design inside a circle. Creating a mandala is a way to express our thoughts and feelings in a harmonious healing way by combining our physical and emotional worlds together in a work of art.

A mandala can be used as a tool for meditation and therapy, or just a way to feel calm while doing a pleasant activity such as colouring in harmonious flowing pictures.

Mandalas are another activity that can assist with expression and validation of thoughts and feelings. They enable the children to find a way to express themselves other than verbally,and allowing parts of their inner selves to come forward in a safe manner. This can assist with helping them to understand what they are feeling.

The children can learn about mandalas by colouring in the template below, this can help them learn about the flow and patterns of the mandala and about applying colour. They can go on to creating their own mandalas by using the starter template below.

Below are two examples of mandalas created by children in our Chill Skills for Kids class.

A drawing by one of our students Ellie age 11 after listening to the relaxation story, The Three Owls from our CD for kids. The children close their eyes and listen to the story while they form images in their mind to the words, (visualisation or guided imagery, see our blog page for information on visualisation and the benefits). This drawing is based on a part of the story, the sunset over the mountains. This is a group activity where the students are shown how to draw their story in one picture. This assists with the ability to express themselves, to validate their relaxation experience and it’s fun!

The owl is one of the characters in the story and is made from plastecine, another activity the kids love and is very beneficial as it connects to the story and assists with expression and creativity.

http://pathofcalm.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/chill-skills-logo-with-picture-in-the-left-for-website-cropped.jpg00adminhttp://pathofcalm.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/chill-skills-logo-with-picture-in-the-left-for-website-cropped.jpgadmin2012-09-10 03:16:332012-09-10 03:16:33A drawing by one of our students from our Chill Skills Classes